HOCKEY

HOCKEY; A New Devils' Trial: No Word From Fetisov

By ALEX YANNIS

Published: August 21, 1991

Brendan Shanahan left last month and signed as a free agent with St. Louis. Troy Crowder, another valuable young player, is on the verge of departing, probably to Detroit. Sean Burke, the towering goaltender who was supposed to be the backbone of the franchise, continues to want to be traded. And Slava Fetisov is somewhere in the Soviet Union.

For the New Jersey Devils, it has been some summer.

Lou Lamoriello, the president and general manager, addressed these issues in a telephone interview yesterday, especially the question of Fetisov, the former captain of the national team of the Soviet Union.

Lamoriello said he had not heard from Fetisov despite messages sent to Moscow, where Fetisov appears to have been caught in the crossfire of political change while visiting relatives with his wife, Lada, and newborn daughter, Anastasia.

Fetisov also had hopes of being selected for the national team for the coming Canada Cup tournament. The 33-year-old was left off the team by Coach Victor Tikhonov, and what might have hurt his pride even more was that Tikhonov chose Aleksei Kasatonov, Fetisov's defensive partner on the Devils. Talk About a Grudge

The feeling is that Tikhonov and the Soviet hockey authorities still hold a grudge against Fetisov for joining the Devils two years ago rather than signing a contract with a Soviet team and joining the Devils later, the way Kasatonov did.

Kasatonov also was in the Soviet Union yesterday with the rest of the national team, which is supposed to arrive in Canada on Saturday.

Doug Brown, Dave Maley and Eric Weinrich also reached tentative agreements with the Devils. They became free agents at the end of last season, along with Shanahan, Crowder and Burke.

Shanahan signed with St. Louis July 24 and his contract is still being investigated by the National Hockey League. The Devils and the Blues cannot negotiate on compensation for Shanahan until the league gives them the go-ahead.

There have been contradictory reports about Shanahan's contract. One has the 22-year-old signing a four-year deal for $4.5 million, another for one year for $600,000. The Conclusion: Arbitration

One thing is certain: the signing has created so much animosity between the Blues and the Devils that it is very unlikely the teams will reach an agreement on compensation.

Judging from the way Lamoriello spoke yesterday, it is a foregone conclusion that Shanahan's case will go to an arbitrator.

The arbitrator would have to decide on the compensation based primarily on the value of Shanahan's contract with the Blues. The smaller the contract, the smaller the compensation to the Devils.

For Burke, who is trying out for Team Canada, the reason behind the request to leave the Devils is a simple one: he spent too many games last season playing behind Chris Terreri as the backup goaltender.

Crowder's situation is a bit more complicated. "There are some extenuating circumstances with Troy," Lamoriello said about the 23-year-old Crowder, the team's most effective enforcer on the ice last season. "There is a possibility we won't be able to retain him."

The chief problem is that Crowder and Coach Tom McVie do not get along. In fact, Crowder dislikes McVie to the point of temporarily retiring from hockey two years ago rather than playing under McVie at the Devils' farm team in Utica, N.Y.